Paying the price

Have you ever noticed that it seems if you really want something, there is a price to be paid? It seems to work in all things.

Someone gives us some homemade bread. It is scrumptious. We ask for the recipe. We make it and it doesn't turn out like the bread they gave us.

It seems like every time I begin learning, I always have to go through this "testing" period. Maybe it's to see if I really want it badly enough that I will keep trying or maybe there are other things I'll get to learn as I go through the whole process.

An example is growing wheat grass. I was thinking just this morning -- I'm so glad I'm where I am instead of when I was beginning. There have been so many variables (water, air, temperature, season, mold) and the learning took many trays. All were able to be harvested but it is nice when one can then look at what is going on and kind of know the whys.

It was the same with sprouting the wheat. I taught an email class on sprouting a couple months ago and this is part of the instructions:

There are many instructions out there -- like the temperature of the water. If I'm hot, I use cold. If I'm cold, I use warm. It really does not matter. Some tell you to use filtered water. Tap water works just fine. Some say to put the container in the dark. It's just fine on the counter - in the light. The only thing you do NOT want to do is let the container come into direct sunlight and this applies throughout the whole process.

Now -- what if you forget to rinse? Just do the next step when you remember. It'll just be a little slower accomplishing what you're doing. What if you forget and the soak process was 24 hours? Just drain, rinse and continue the process

When I was learning was it like this? NOT!!!!

I've found this with bread also. I've been looking for the "perfect" bread recipe for years. A couple weeks ago, I had some sprouted wheat that wasn't sprouting like it should. I didn't want to throw it out so decided to blend it up and use it in bread. I used some of the liquid called for in the recipe in the blender and when I put it in the mixer, I went with the rest of the recipe and then went with looks and feel. It turned out wonderful. I was in awe -- once again -- knowing that there were MANY things that could be done and it'd be good!

Thinking upon these things -- when wheat is planted, it does its thing and does not have to be watered everyday. Sometimes it gets soaked for days. Why would sprouting and growing wheat grass be unlike planting it in the ground? And with making bread -- in the beginning, that someone had to come up with the recipe by looks and feel.

Sprouting, growing wheat grass and making bread - I've decided - are very forgiving. We've been inundated with lots of good information, but this causes me to want to take everyones' input and come up with the "perfect" result. I realized that I truly make things too complicated.

Just maybe, the answers we seek will be just as simple.

Basak